Research Guides: Science, Technology, & Society (STS): Find Non-Science Primary Sources

Finding Non-Science Primary Sources

Primary sources outside of the sciences

are created at the time of or close to an event
do not include scholarly analysis
are the objects (such as artwork, literature, documents, etc) that you analyze

They can include advice columns, news articles, magazine essays, personal accounts, letters, images, etc.

General Audience Science Magazines

These 2 magazines are not peer-reviewed but they cover scientific research for a general audience. They can be useful for finding out how science has been interpreted for non-experts.

Scientific American
(popular/not scholarly) - 1845-present
Popular Science
1872-present

General Interest Popular Magazines - Historical and Current

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search here for comprehensive coverage of news and current events, government, business, medical, and legal topics, as well as general reference information.
Content type: Newspaper articles, trade journal articles, broadcast transcripts, financial reports, federal and state case law, medical abstracts, corporate profiles
Coverage dates: 1980-present
Language: English, Spanish, French, Dutch, German, Portuguese
Keywords: Lexis Nexis
Readers' Guide This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good for discovering articles from backfiles of magazines on a variety of subjects that are not indexed elsewhere in one place.
Content type: Magazine articles, scholarly articles
Coverage dates: 1890-present
Updated daily. Most publications are North American popular sources. Searches both Reader's Guide Retrospective: 1890-1982 and Reader's Guide Full Text Mega (1983-present).
Language: English
Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good starting point when researching topics that intersect with multiple disciplines.
Content type: Scholarly articles, newspaper articles, magazine articles, trade journal articles
Coverage dates: 1887-present; varies by title
Language: English, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Turkish, French, Chinese, Arabic etc.
Keywords: ASP
Women's Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Explore major women's magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Better Homes & Gardens, Essence, and Seventeen.
Content type: Magazine articles
Coverage dates: 1922-2005
Full digitization of the magazine, meaning all articles, illustrations, and advertisements are included. Full text of: Better Homes & Gardens (1922 to 2005), Chatelaine (1928 to 2005), Cosmopolitan (1926-2004), Essence (1970-2005), Good Housekeeping (1885 to 2005), Ladies' Home Journal (1885 to 2005), Parents (1926 to 2005), Redbook (1903 to 2005), Seventeen (1944-2005), WIN News (1975-2003), and Women's Day (1937-2001).
Language: English

LIFE magazine
browse or search all issues from 1936-1972

Current/Recent News Sources

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search here for comprehensive coverage of news and current events, government, business, medical, and legal topics, as well as general reference information.
Content type: Newspaper articles, trade journal articles, broadcast transcripts, financial reports, federal and state case law, medical abstracts, corporate profiles
Coverage dates: 1980-present
Language: English, Spanish, French, Dutch, German, Portuguese
Keywords: Lexis Nexis
America's News This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good for finding historical and current articles from newspapers and news sources across the U.S., including smaller regional and local newspapers.
Content type: Newspaper articles, broadcast transcripts, newswires
Coverage dates: 1700s-present
Includes historical and current content for the Sacremento Bee, the San Diego Union Tribune, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Paid advertisements are excluded.
Language: English
Keywords: NewsBank News Bank
Global Newsstream This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Discover news from the top news sources around the world.
Content type: Newspaper articles
Coverage dates: 1980-present
Includes titles such as, The Bangkok Post, El Norte, Financial Times, The Guardian, Jerusalem Post, South China Morning Post, The Daily Telegraph, Asian Wall Street Journal, and the BBC Monitoring series of publications.
Language: English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Urdu‎, etc.
Keywords: News Stream International Newsstand Stand
Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search here for full text articles from newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press.
Content type: Scholarly articles, newspaper articles, magazine articles, trade journal articles, dissertations and theses, conference proceedings, blogs
Coverage dates: 1959-present
Includes unique community publications as well as top scholarly journals on ethnicities and ethnic studies.
Language: English, Spanish, French, etc.
Keywords: News Watch
Associated Press Images Collection This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Discover images and sound bites of historical events, political leaders, sports, and celebrities from the Associated Press.
Content type: Images, audio
Coverage dates: 1826-present
Language: English
Keywords: AP